That's not how she tells it
by Redemption by Fire
Summary: Internal musings during 2x08 and 9. With theories about Cora's past. Regina never wins. But now with her mother possibly coming, losing is not an option. Cora must die no matter how painful that may be. Henry will not suffer death for her past failings. But how do you kill what has no heart? A heart that now belongs to someone else, someone that Henry loves. Rumple and Snow up now.
1. That's not how she tells it

So I think my theory that Snow and Cora are connected more than through the death of Daniel, grows more with every episode. Cora apparently shares the same bird communication skill that Snow has, Cora also claims to know a lot about Snow and her motives, even though it seems like that they have not really had a lot of interaction since her childhood.

If you are curious as to my start prompt, go to ouattheories, the tumbler site and put in this post number below.

post/35231757828/and-of-course-the-only-way-to-destroy-her-mother

So this follows the canon of 2x8, but has a few of my own theories thrown in during Regina internal thoughts during the episode.

"That's not how she tells it."

***  
Regina flared her nostrils as she tried to have a _**private **_conversation, that was now going to be town gossip. Rumpelstiltskin was likely the most irritating man to work with or against. Her mother had hated the Dark One too. All the dramatics and the games, it wasn't hard to see her mother hating someone like that. While her mother always seemed to know how to get exactly what she wanted, it was seldom from her words or some sort of playing pretend, as Rumplestiltskin did.

Cora was more of an actions speak louder than words, kind of person. Just like Regina...and Snow. She shook her head, to clear such a thought from her mind. Normally, she would have relished an additional thing to hate about Snow, all the things that she and her mother shared, things she had no idea about, but she was trying to win Henry's affections and succumbing to an old demon, would only make matters worse. Cora was the real issue right now. Not Snow. Snow was sturdy and level headed like her mother, bouncing back over and over again, from what Regina had long ago stopped assuming would be final blows. Cora was the monster, not Snow, no matter what Cora's story had implied. Snow's death was merely a satisfying solution, albeit an unsuccessful one, to a much bigger problem.

Rumpelstiltskin was posturing, so smug about his victory over Cora. Regina grit her teeth. "That's not how she tells it." She wants to punch him, when he practically proclaims that Regina was his victory prize in front of everyone, but she had promised a civil conversation to the unfortunate crowd. And Regina kept her promises. It was something everyone could depend on.

Regina enjoyed the fear on Belle's face during their conversation. She grinned when Rumpelstiltskin side-lined her question about who Cora was, after he had just made a big show about letting her know everything, in front of everyone in the diner.  
She let this small satisfaction fill her, instead of thinking about Snow. But then as she turned and left knowing that Rumple was getting up and following her just as she expected, instead of finishing his meal with her, she frowned. This didn't make her any better, the enjoyment of Belle's emotional suffering.

Why was this the only thing that Henry wanted? To give up magic. Couldn't he see how hard this was for her? That he was practically asking for the impossible. It was her one stronghold in a lifetime of fear and uncertainty. Why couldn't he have asked for normal things, like bikes, ponies, video games, as sign of affection and love?

As they entered Mr. Gold's shop, Regina smiled as tenderly as she could manage at Henry. Henry flashed her a tentative smile. Progress...maybe.

Regina sat annoyed as Mr. Gold talked of bedtime stories, like this was just another goodnight, just another nightmare. Her son, her brave son, wanted to be a hero so badly, and Regina couldn't help but wonder, if that, like her own similar childhood fantasy of being a knight, instead of a lady, of riding off and saving people, daring sword fights, and such, was going to screw him over the same as it had screwed her over.

Her mother had known about that fantasy. And she had sent Snow White's horse into a frenzy, knowing full well, that she would jump at a chance to embrace that foolish idea.  
Regina sat nervously as Henry slept. She hated being nervous, it implied a lack of control. And she hated not being in control.

Henry awoke much quicker than expected, mission unaccomplished and more hurt than before. Regina steamed when Rumplestiltskin just calmly acted like it was no big deal, that his stupid magic would fix everything and that Henry would going right back. Magic didn't take away the painful memory of the burn. So worried was she that, she didn't even enjoy the bitter irony of her jinks with David, over Henry's safety.

She weakly protested David's stupidest idea to date, to rescue Snow and Emma. It didn't matter. He would either succeed somehow, just like the other million times, but only briefly of course, and Snow's anger at him would sate her later, or he would fail and be stuck forever, just like Snow and Emma, and she would finally be free of everyone that irked her. Except for Mr. Gold. And except for Cora.

She was never free of Cora. And she never would be. When you devote your life to the destruction of another human being, especially family, well, either you died with them, or you'd wished you had. And everyone else would wish that you had too.

So it was with Cora and so it would be with her. Cora had died the night she bested Rumplestiltskin, the first soul to succeed in finding a loophole, and she had paid the price. Heartless bitch, that she then became, had then proceeded to ruin her whole life, that very thing she professed to be trying to save on that fateful night.

"Oh the things I did for you...Oh, the sacrifices that I had to make... Oh the life I wished for you..." Regina never so much as hated these words, as she did the night she thought she had killed her mother, that she had finally succeeded. The night her mother first attempted to explain herself, the moment Regina truly understood her relationship with Rumplestiltskin.

Cora, the miller's daughter who gave everything she had to protect herself from death and an abusive home life, even a future unborn child. Who was clever enough to try and prevent this and took a potion to prevent children to screw Rumplestiltskin over. But who managed to find true love, which broke the curse. And Regina had been born, much to her dismay. That what she feared would finally come true, that her heart would feel like it was being ripped from her at her departure. Loss after loss, her hope finally destroyed from a life of suffering. That which she swore her daughter would never know. And she began to learn magic. With that, she could have everything... because she would take it.

But Cora was also woman who sacrificed the greatest thing she had to offer, her heart, to a dark fairy to learn the Dark One's name, so as to keep Regina from his clutches. Who then spent the rest of her life looking for where the fairy had stored it. Ripping hearts out left and right, until she no longer seemed human and no longer cared who she hurt, and who even eventually lost sight of her task, according to her father. That which merely looked like the wife he loved, became the brains for Rumplestiltskin's magical brawn. Who invented dozens of magical items and ideas, including the apple, and if Regina lets herself admit it, likely the Dark Curse as well. Now that she knew the story, which had then been reaffirmed by her father, it made hating her harder, it made her angry and sad. But mostly it made her crazier. Especially since she knew now where her heart resided. She was sure of it.

At first she had secretly enjoyed the grimace on Emma's face when Snow proclaimed very similar words, about her trip through the wardrobe, about sacrifice and best options. But then it also pained her, along with all the other annoying and depressing similarities between Emma and herself, each one serving only to further prove that Cora's love had once again succeeded in destroying another child. Even if this one too, was unintentional and had also perhaps been not without good motives. Regina had after all become the new monster to protect her daughter from. And now it was up to Emma, Emma would have to do what needed to be done to save a whole world from Cora.

Regina set about making a sleeping curse, it would be of course crude and simple, unlike her mother's apple that she had studied extensively before approaching Snow with it. Nothing that she did would ever match the skill and grace of her mother's magic. Rumpelstiltskin was right, Regina had potential, but Cora had talent.  
She suddenly became aware of Henry watching her, half curious and half afraid. His words about Mr. Gold having everything she needed, did not go unnoticed. Rumplestiltskin, always was prepared. Cora had taught him that. To beat an enemy, you must be several steps ahead of them. And never take little girls as simple minded fools.

Henry's tremble as he asked about her using magic, caught her off guard. He wanted to love her, he did. He was just afraid, afraid however, not of her, or even her magic it seemed. He was afraid of an Evil Queen being so close to his heart. Just as she had been afraid of loving a mother so cold and calloused, for fear of what that would mean about her. The way that Belle, still flinched, still worried and fretted. Loving a beast was dangerous. Sometimes it fixed them, sometimes it made you a beast too.  
She turned slowly and reassured him, yet was honest. She was trying, she was. His simple honest reply however, made Regina's blood freeze. Regina forced a smile. She assured Henry, that despite everything, that David would awaken, that Snow and he always found each other, their stupid little cliche phrase. It was like they had some sort of magical magnetism, where they kept coming back together, no matter how big the explosion that separated them. And of course, he believed her, who better would know then his mother, the Evil Queen, who had failed so miserably time and time again to destroy them. Ironic now, that she was the one restoring his faith in love and happiness.

But internally she was crumbling. Her childlike self, so carefully guarded that she often forgot it was still there, deep inside her, was starting to panic. Nothing put the fear of God in her, like her mother. Loveable, idiot David was going to fail. Her mother was coming to Storybrooke, and she had once again failed to protect herself. She had a damn weakness too. She had loved once again, no matter how inadequately, and they were both going down in flames. Her love for Henry would cost him.

She didn't even gloat or chastise Rumple for his horrible jab at her having the honors of pricking David's finger. As her fingers trembled slightly as she placed the needle in place, a rash desire to take his place came over her. Not out of any noble notion, but as a method of protecting herself. Even there, where she would never wake, she would not be free of her mother, however, so the moment passed.

As soon as she saw David collapse, no satisfaction followed it, as Henry shoulders sank with his fallen frame. When David did not awake after several hours, Henry began to despair. He was starting to doubt, to stop believing that happiness could come to him and those he cared about. And Regina wanted so badly to protect him from that, like her father had tried and failed. She knew that the loss of hope led to one of two things, depression or darkness and sometimes both.

Just like her. Just like her mother.

But of course, not the way that she tells it. In her version, she is powerful and in control. In her version, Cora has won.


	2. Zoso's bet

Rumpelstiltskin's point of view...because I couldn't resist and it rounded out the story. I doubt the additional theory involving Zoso will play out, but I enjoy it all the same.

***  
Zoso's bet

Rumpelstiltskin had never considered himself a betting man. As a man, he had never risked anything, so he never lost, right? The one and only thing he had ever took a chance on, was Milah. His timid proposal had been the most daring thing he had ever attempted. He loved her so, he thought of her everywhere, saw her everywhere, and he wanted nothing more than a simple life with her, everywhere. If he had been a more astute man, he would have seen her, as she was, not as he wanted her to be. A wild spirit, who would never been content to the simple life he so desired, she would never be his. But he took a chance and she had said yes.

This could have been, now that he looks back, because she had said her family had nothing and well, he had a trade. He had a home, simple, but efficient. He loved her, that was clear and was certainly nothing like the rather morose and easily angered father she described. He would care for her.

But she would never love him.

There it was spelled out in ink. _Milah will accept, but my daughter will never love him. _

Rumpelstiltskin closed the book and opened it one more time, just to make sure he had not imagined it. Nope, still there. He swore.

Rumpelstiltskin, the new Dark One, had been played. He had known that the moment he had stabbed Zozo, with his own dagger. But he hadn't thought just how far back this had been in motion. His daughter...

Rumpelstiltskin, now the Dark One, full of new found power, yet all alone in the world now, Milah, dead by his own hands, her proclamation of non-existent love for him, still ringing in his ears, and his son, Bae, whom he had dropped into an unknown world, which he still had been unsuccessful several years later, in securing a portal to, suddenly was full of daring.  
He had nothing more to lose and he had always been a curious man at least. He turned the page.  
His eyes scanned the page. _He will love his son, but not more than his own life, then his power. _ No checkmark here. Rumpelstiltskin supposed Zozo had been killed, before he could really be sure that this was true. Yet it had been, and he placed a checkmate next to this statement in sadness.

There were further predictions about various people in the nearby area that Rumpelstiltskin did not recognize or know them well enough, to decide how true they were likely to be. So he scanned down further. The next page was empty save for one, large print, prediction.

_Love destroys more lives than it saves. _

The next set of pages were divided down the spine. True and not true. Tallies were present on both sides. The True side was full of many more tally marks the the Not True side.

Zoso had been counting. Counting how many lives had been destroyed by an act of love versus how many had been saved. His hands trembled as he counted the total. Almost a 2-1 ratio, favoring love as destruction.

He pulled out a feather pen from Zoso's desk. He dipped it in the ink beside it. One mark, he added for Milah. His love had destroyed her, unwilling to let her go to someone else.  
Then he added one for his son, whom his love of self preservation, had left all alone in a world, which Rumpelstiltskin still could not find a way to.

There he wept for hours, truly believing as Zoso had, that it was hopeless. Life was such a burden, if love was so unkind. What was worth living for?

***  
It was many, many years before Rumpelstiltskin, began to try again, to find a way to his son.  
A little girl, was crying in a great room, full of straw. Some ridiculous lie had been made up about turning straw into gold, she said. Rumpelstiltskin knew that it had been a trap to draw him in. That this unloved, abused little girl, had lied through her teeth to a king, to get Rumpelstiltskin's attention.  
"You can do, it though, right?" She inquired. "If you do so for me, then you will save me from death."

"All magic comes with a price."

"I know." Her desperate eyes searched him. Rumplestiltskin felt for a second that he was looking into his own desperate eyes, as he had stabbed the Dark One. A chill went down his spine.

"Usually, it destroys a person. Magic. Just like love." Rumpelstiltskin had offered, trying to get her to see the foolishness of trying to barter with him, for anything. "I have a running tally, you see, of just how many people have suffered from both."

The girl seemed to ponder this. "Perhaps, you are just not making the right kind of deals. I could help you."

Rumpelstiltskin had to admit, he was not the most creative or intelligent of men. Zoso's books that he had found over the years in his castle, which he had taken over, seem to suggest that he had been much more so of both, then Rumplestiltskin would ever be.  
The Blue Fairy's words to him the night he lost his son, replayed in his ears. "Such a curse is beyond your abilities."

A horrible thought occurred to him. This girl would kill him, if she knew how that would benefit her. Unloved her whole life, there was nothing to stop her. Then he really would never see his son again. So, he drew his enemy closer.  
"How about if I teach you, magic?"

The girl narrowed her eyes. "And what would be the price for that?"

Rumplestiltskin smiled. He reached for her, her touch zinged with untapped magical potential. Here was the brains and the talent for his curse. She would be his curse maker. A way back to his son. One less tally for the left side of the book.

"I would need you to design something for me, once your training had progressed far enough to assist me."

"Design what?" She asked cautiously.

"A curse. One that will help me reach the land where my lost son resides. A curse that will prove Zoso wrong. That love doesn't have to destroy the thing you love the most." Rumpelstiltskin gave a wistful look. He showed her the tally.  
She didn't question any of his words, but then she didn't seem to believe them either. She scoffed as though she didn't believe such a thing was possible. Yet, her eyes flickered with a spark of hope. "Throw in some straw transformed into gold tonight, and we have a Deal."

"Nice to be working with you then..." He offered, searching for the name of the girl.

"Cora."

Unfortunately, the king demanded another night of straw into gold. She had nothing left to offer, her services already procured. "Your first born, will belong to me." Rumpelstiltskin offered.  
Cora didn't even hesitate. "Deal."

She didn't love the king, why should she care for their first born? But somewhere in there, there was a potion to prevent children and an unhappy king who was stuck without an heir. King George said she was poisoned, but Rumpelstiltskin expected she did it herself. Her father had long ago taught her, screw or be screwed.  
The king dismissed her as wife. Cora couldn't have planned better. She was free, and she already had more things leaving, then she came in with.  
But, Rumpelstiltskin would not be cheated out of his deal, so easily.  
He might have introduced Henry and Cora.  
And then magic and unwanted true love destroyed her.

She loved this man and their daughter. She would give up anything, even a heart to protect that. Making deals with dark fairies, and ripping out hearts left and right.

Rumpelstiltskin should have just left her barren.

At least one day, she gave him an incredible curse. Only, it required something to be cast, that neither of them possessed. Something that they loved. And Cora had been heartless for too long.  
"Just screw over some already miserable soul, then offer them a way out, and they will practically do it for you." Cora muttered without a moment's hesitation, cold and unfeeling.

On his way out, a girl on horseback rode by, almost knocking him over. At first, he was certain she was afraid of him, but when he looked, she was more afraid of being seen. A young man waited on a hill for her. Secret lovers.

Rumpelstiltskin, his head still covered, merely, chuckled. "No harm done, dearie."

Cora would lose. She had bested him over and over again, cheating and lying, and backstabbing in every way possible these days. But he would win. The beautiful baby, now woman could still belong to him. He knew how to recognize a desperate soul.

And he didn't have to wait long to make his first move.

***  
Zoso was wrong. He had made many deals that he did not understand. Zoso's had not been the last. He should have chosen his words more carefully. His, no Cora's, big magical experiment, was more than he could have envisioned, yet she had technically given him everything he wanted. A whole town of people, to study, to watch, to see if love had indeed destroyed them. Unable to leave, like rats in a maze, he could tailor their lives to his liking.  
But even he had been a rat too, until Emma came into town. But he knew now, and the results were still to be determined. And Cora, a hopeful little girl no more, was certainly waiting for the chance to make her move on him, for using her daughter and her husband, to enact her curse.

He would never admit it to Regina, but Cora had still won. His son was out there in this land, but he was unable to get to him, and a whole lot of people's lives had been twisted, in attempts to prove Zoso wrong. And Rumpelstiltskin wasn't sure anymore that he was. Cora never thought he was. _Love is weakness. _As he sat watching young Henry sleep, desperate to see his sleeping grandfather again, even at risk to his own safety, he traced a finger over the checkmark she had made next to that statement in Zoso's book.

Then with a red ballpoint pen, Rumpelstiltskin, added one more huge tally to the left side, to the True side of Zoso's original tally. It was hard to say whether it was for Cora, Regina, Henry, both of them, Snow, David, Emma, or his love and weakness, Belle. Or it could have really been any other of the town's people. But the tally, being red and much bigger than the others, it really didn't matter. It was clear enough to Rumpelstiltskin.

If Emma died or she failed, in her upcoming task, her open end of their deal, if she failed to save this world, well, then it stood for everyone. If she couldn't manage, with all the crap she had been put through, all the name of love, to prove Zoso wrong, then no one could.

And then it would also stand for Rumpelstiltskin.


	3. Nothing to Tell

I'm so happy! The show confirmed this past weekend that Cora's heart is not in her chest. Where could it be...hmmmm. Maybe my theory is possible. Wouldn't that be epic?

Oh and Cora was set to rip out Snow's heart and give it to Regina. Hmm. If this is true, does she know?

Oh and Mr. Gold said... "I guess I shouldn't bet against you." to Emma. Right after my chapter about his long running tally and putting all his hope on one horse, Emma. It's like they can read my mind.

Holler if you think, that Regina was sending Hook on what she thought was a suicide mission and was unpleasantly surprised to see him and Cora. That perhaps the little speech she made, was serving a different purpose, other than a mourning.

Last chapter to this little theory musing. Last up Snow...but she'll never tell.

***  
When Regina first told Snow about Daniel, his death, she was shocked and horrified. But since she had seen Regina then and the creature before her now, she knew it was the truth. The shock disappeared and was replaced by guilt.

No, you were a little girl. A stupid little girl trying to do the right thing. To save her from the greatest loss one could ever suffer. The loss of a mother.

She tried to beat it back, the rising tide of guilt. She met Regina's eyes. At least, they once looked like Regina's eyes. They were cold and spiteful, not at all the same eyes that she gazed into, eager to see the incredible person whom had saved her life, so many years ago.

When Regina held out the apple and explained it, Snow was confused. First, her attempted murder and now, a lifetime of tortured sleep? While this new level of torture, made sense, since the first had failed her, for the first time Snow looked into Regina's eyes and saw something. Something more than hatred she now expected, more than the sorrow that she now understood, more than malicious excitement at Snow's predicament. She saw, what she could only describe as intimacy. Not in a welcoming sense, but in a sense that this apple, this very specific apple, should mean something to her. Snow liked apples, but the story behind this apple, was clearly missing.

Regina hated her for Daniel, but there was more. Snow felt overwhelmed by the sudden knowledge that this once kind person had hated her in secret for so many years and she was still uncertain she had the whole story. She felt drowning, drowning in anxiety and terror. She knew she was unhappy in her marriage to her father, she had picked up on that as a teen. But this was clearly more than that. If Daniel's death was the tip of iceberg, the thing she mentioned first, what was the rest of it?

Snow tried to rack her brain for something, anything, to explain the fire and the brokenness in her stepmother's eyes. Coming up with nothing more of any great weight, she began to panic. Would she never know? How would she ever sleep again...the irony. When Regina promised that David would live if she bit the apple, Snow wanted to believe her so badly. Her fight was with Snow, not him.

As she bit the apple, however, just before sleep overtook her, she doubted that Regina would even keep that promise. There was joy in her eyes at Snow's acceptance of her fate, mixed with self-hatred. Regina wouldn't let him become like herself, she would kill him out of mercy. No chance for revenge to destroy him. No dark nights, all alone in misery.

So therefore, Regina's apple didn't quite have the effect she had planned. Snow was alone in the dark, with just herself. At least at first. But she wasn't tormented. At first, she spent time thinking of David, how she missed him and how his torment would be over soon. She consoled herself with this knowledge. That Regina still had a heart. No matter how mutilated.

But then after what seemed like weeks but she later discovered was more like only a few days, something changed. She kept seeing a face in the mirrors, out of the corner of her eyes. And it was not her own. It was a friendly looking face, but a sad one.

"Hello?" Perhaps Regina had cursed someone else here as well.

The image shifted. Now in the mirror in front of her, Snow saw not her own reflection, but the other girl. It seemed familiar, like someone she had met, but she couldn't quite place her finger on it.

"Hello? Who are you?"

The girl, about 17 or so in appearance, had long brown hair, soft, but very sad, brown eyes and she was wearing a simple, but elegantly cut dress. She shook her head and placed a finger across her lips in a hush gesture. She had a simple wedding ring on her finger and her hand fell across her stomach. Snow noticed it was a bit round, perhaps she was pregnant?

"Can I not speak to you?" Snow asked.

The girl, now looking even more familiar, but still un-identifiable to her, gave her a sorrowful look. "You may speak, all you like, but it does not mean anything." Her voice was soft and velvety and so achingly familiar. "I do not wish to speak to you." Her words were harsh, but her tone still smooth and calm.

"How are you in here?" Snow asked curiously. "Did Regina curse you too?"

The girl's eyes flickered in recognition of the name, but in pain as well. Her hand on her stomach trembled. She shook her head no, fervently. "No, we did." Her voice which was so soft and velvety before was now tense and raw in this reply. It seemed to come out of its own accord and the girl frowned that she had even responded.

Snow frowned. "Who did?"

The girl scowled with a face, half angry and half guilty, that Snow had seen before. On Regina. "We did. We cursed her."

"I don't understand...is this about Daniel? Who are you?" Snow inquired.

The girl banged on the glass inside the mirror, angrily, "It does not matter. You must never tell anyone that I am here. You must keep this secret." She watched fiercely for a response, fire in her eyes.

Snow found herself nodding. She had told a secret before and look where that had gotten everyone. The girl seemed to accept this nod. "Good." She whispered sadly.

Then she looked up. "Please try to save my baby, please." Her face was desperate and her voice broke. She gripped her stomach even tighter.

"Who?"

...

Snow was abruptly awoken, surprisingly by Charming. It took her a moment to process where she was and shake the spell from her mind. Snow smiled broadly. She was pleased to see David alive and rescuing her, but she was surprised. Here he was again, having escaped from Regina and now despite everything, professing his desire to marry her. Snow wanted nothing more than this, but her mind couldn't help, but sadly tell her heart, that with this, would come a fresh wave of suffering for Regina and therefore a new form of torture for the two of them.

When she awoke from the red room that night, screaming, the flames still present in her mind, even she stared at the candle David had lit, she knew this must be it. This was her punishment for escaping.

When David asked her what she had seen in her curse, after the second or third time back in the burning room, she told him. About the darkness, the mirrors, about the room with no doors and no windows and the hot, burning flames. But not about the girl. Never about the girl.  
She could keep a secret, even if it hurt, even if she wanted so badly to tell him everything, to ask him if she was crazy, to theorize, to just be comforted in her growing unease about the whole thing.

When she became pregnant with her own child, Snow, finally understood the girl's suffering. In a constant state of fear about her child's wellbeing, she thought back to the girl in the mirror. She wondered if she ever got out. But she didn't worry too much over it, it was probably safer in their anyway. Motherhood was damn painful. No one was ever safe, not for long and it hurt most of all when it was the thing you wanted to protect the most. But even her waking dreams of terror, she still told no one about the girl in the mirror.

***  
Another curse entirely had caused Mary Margaret to forget the girl, and the burning red room. But as she held her dear David in her arms, her Charming, as he too visited the red room of fear and pain, the memory came back.

She still didn't know what it meant, if it was just part of Regina's torment for her, or something more, but whatever the intention, it had worked. The torment and fear returned as she tried to in vain push them aside for David, to console and awaken him. She held herself together, pushed his worries about her away, with the mention of just being worried about him. Falling asleep again, Snow laid in his arms, awake and once again aching to say something. Now more than ever.

The voice and the face for Snow, as a young woman, had been years since she had seen or heard, the memory a bit more distant and forgotten then now. But after her recent trip to and from their home world, things were fresher and more ingrained in her mind.

She knew who the girl was.

The girl was Cora. Not bitter and cold, bloodthirsty Cora. There was both youth and sorrow on her face, something that Cora had never demonstrated. There was kindness, there was guilt, and there was fear. None of these, were things that Snow would attribute to Cora either, but she couldn't deny them. The look of these emotions on her face was so close to Regina's, perhaps even her own in her new motherhood, if one could still say that about having a 28 year old daughter, that she couldn't deny them. However, the girl got there, in the mirror, it was not Cora, not the one that she knew.

And with fear, as she settled down up against her husband, her true love, she knew it was a secret she would never tell. Because to say it aloud now, now that she knew who she was, now that she understood her pain, well, to say it aloud now, would not only be the betrayal of the worse kind, the kind you willing acknowledge. Of course this was assuming the young Cora had been real and not a figment, or an illusion. But if Regina didn't already know about her, it would do her no good at all to know, no, and it would certainly not be saving her, it would be like ripping Regina's heart out.

Yes, exactly like that. And Snow's heart along with it...perhaps both of them.

"Snow?" David interrupted her thoughts. "What's wrong, you're trembling."

Snow shook her head. But David wasn't going to let it drop so easily. He gave her a stern yet compassionate look. "You know that you can tell me anything, right?"  
Snow nodded. But not this. "I was just having a moment. Where I wondered if any of this was real, if I wasn't still sleeping, constantly tormented over and over for all eternity." She had tried to keep her voice calm, but it sounded more like thin, worn out attempt to seem brave.

Charming, her prince, held her even tighter. "I'm real. Right now, right here. And I know there is no way to prove that to you. And I know how much you like proof." Snow could feel him smile into her neck as he kissed it. "But you're just going to have to have faith, tonight. I know you can do this, Snow. Now close your eyes and just enjoy me and you, right here, right now. Don't let Regina or Cora get to you. Right now, we sleep and rest. Together." He kissed her again, and Snow felt like she on fire, the kind she would gladly burn with. Fairies, she loved him so much. She smiled broadly.

Yes, that was it. Snow was just psyching herself out. Regina was finally getting to her, after all these years, that was it, nothing more. There was no young Cora, there was no stupid secret to keep.

There was nothing to tell.


End file.
